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PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles’ purge of Chip Kelly players continued Tuesday when they traded 2015 second-round draft pick Eric Rowe to the New England Patriots, according to an ESPN report.

Rowe, who started the final five games last season, had slid down the Eagles’ depth chart during the spring organized team activities and into the preseason. He had been expected to challenge for a starting job this season.

Instead, the Eagles gave up on him. At first, it was reported that the Eagles would get offensive lineman Josh Kline and a fourth-round draft pick in 2018. Later, it was reported that Kline was no longer in the deal, and that the Eagles were just getting the draft pick. The Eagles had no intention on keeping Kline because they would have had 12 offensive linemen on the roster.

The Eagles have not confirmed the trade.

As for Rowe, he said Monday that he didn’t know why he had fallen out of favor. He was listed as third-string at cornerback on the depth chart released Tuesday, before the trade was made, behind starter Leodis McKelvin and seventh-round draft pick Jalen Mills.

“I don’t have an idea,” Rowe said. “It’s tough to hang your hat on. It’s just one of those things you have to overcome.”

During the spring organized team activities, head coach Doug Pederson said that Rowe was no longer taking snaps with the starters because he had some “hiccups” in picking up the system of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

Rowe said he felt like he fit Schwartz’s system.

“For a corner, it’s still press-man on the outside, kind of like you’re damn near by yourself [against a wide receiver],” Rowe said. “It’s almost the same as last year, so I don’t think it’s the system.

The Eagles drafted Rowe, who’s 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, out of the University of Utah. Rowe had played safety there for his first three seasons before moving to cornerback as a senior. The Eagles drafted him as a corner and never tried him at safety.

Rowe’s departure leaves just two of six players that the Eagles drafted in 2015 on the roster. They are first-round pick Nelson Agholor and third-round pick Jordan Hicks. JaCorey Shepherd and Randall Evans were released last weekend and Brian Mihalik was released in Sept. 2015.

Kelly was the coach and general manager in 2015 as Howie Roseman, the previous GM, was banished to the financial side of the organization. Roseman got control back after Kelly was fired last Dec. 29.

And he quickly went about getting rid of players Kelly brought in.

On Saturday, Roseman traded starting quarterback Sam Bradford to Minnesota for a first-round pick in 2017 and a fourth-rounder in 2018. Kelly had traded a second-round pick and quarterback Nick Foles to get Bradford in March, 2015.

Last spring, Roseman also traded away running back DeMarco Murray and cornerback Byron Maxwell, both of whom were free-agent flops; as well as linebacker Kiko Alonso, whom Kelly acquired in a trade for LeSean McCoy, the Eagles’ all-time leading rusher.